June 3, 2023 by Weston in Reports

Thank you all for your prayers about Pure Glory Village and the ministry that sprouted up in September 2022. We have officially closed out this ministry, however.

In November of last year the regular fellowship meetings were halted because the local host was no longer available. The underlying reason for this appeared to be pressure from other villagers. From that point on all we would hear from the members of the Saturday fellowship was that they were unavailable. This is a Thai cultural way of saying that they do not want to continue the relationship.

Our team put a fighting effort, though, to see this ministry continue. In February 2023, Lisa and another Thai partner went to visit the villagers with James to make some inquiries. On that visit the villagers again said that they were not available to meet.

A week later James, Pastor Celebrate and myself went to meet with them. That visit proved more productive. We were able to visit with Ms. Small and another villager. Twice, I asked them point blank if they were interested in continuing to meet regularly to worship God and study the scriptures and they just looked away and refused to answer the question. This is a Thai way of saying no. We debriefed with Pastor Celebrate afterward and he said that if we were to continue the ministry in Pure Glory Village we would need to start over with different villagers. This was not something he had the capacity for at that time.

Since then, James has tried to continue following up with them but it is time to call this ministry closed for the time being. This village is in our target area so we will keep our options open regarding how we might re-engage with them in the future.

As we have reflected on this ministry as a team we've asked the question, "Initially, in September 2022, did the believers make a genuine profession of faith?" There is no way to know for sure but in the final, aforementioned visit there were some signs that Pastor Celebrate may have used his cultural position of authority as a religious teacher to pressure Ms. Small into making a profession of faith. If this is the case it violates our team's evangelistic standards, namely, that we do not use pressure tactics to bring people to Christ. Furthermore, if Ms. Small was a genuine believer why would she not answer "Yes" to the question, "Do you want to continue a regular fellowship meeting?" If the Spirit of God dwelt in her I think we would have seen some signs that she was at least wrestling with this question. No struggle was observable, however.

Thank you all for praying for this ministry. It was an encouraging sign and provided opportunities to gain experience and learn some new things as a team but, sadly, ended in a way that is all too common in the countryside of Isaan.

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November 27, 2022 by Weston in Pray

Today I spoke with Pastor Celebrate and James about the ministry in Pure Glory Village and he said that it appears that the new believers are being pressured by other unbelieving villagers to stop meeting with James, Pastor Celebrate and the others that come and assist in the teaching and worship there. Yesterday, Ms. Small, one of the new believers, declined to speak with Pastor Celebrate and the regular Saturday meeting was cancelled.

Pressure from unbelievers in local villages is very common throughout the country. It is especially so in the rural countryside where we work so we are not surprised by this. In fact, it is an innevitable reality that we all much face as followers of Jesus. The main concern for these new believers is that they have so little knowledge and experience to draw from as they face this pressure.

Please pray:

• The new believers will stand fast in their young faith.
• God will miraculously meet them in their emotions, doubts and fears.
• Pastor Celebrate and James will be able to actually sit down and speak with the believers and hear their troubles, concerns and give them encouragement to continue meeting.
• More facts about what has happened may be collected so there is a very clear picture of what is going on. Fuzy "he said, she said" stories is an old tactic of the enemy to waste time and energy.
• God would draw with those who are opposing the gospel proclamation, or at least, silence this opposition.

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